The present invention is directed to a roll-up partition system assembly which has a protective partition for covering a window or door opening that may be rolled up into a housing when not in use. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a modular assembly implementing an improved emergency opening mechanism for roll-up partition systems. The embodiments disclosed herein illustrated the various aspects of the present invention applied to one particular type of roll-up partition system: rolling protective shutters formed from a plurality of interconnected slats. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention has application in other systems wherein a partition member is coupled to and rolls up onto a support member within a housing, such as roll-up doors, roll-up grills, roll-up gates, fire doors and the like. The application of the present invention to the various types of roll-up partition systems is contemplated by the inventor.
One type of roll-up partition system is a rolling protective shutter. Rolling protective shutters are conventional and are used to provide protection against extreme weather conditions and to deter theft, for example. One such rolling protective shutter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,635 to Solomon. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of that patent, the Solomon shutter is composed of a plurality of elongate slats, each of which has a pair of circular ribs attached to its sides. The slats are interconnected by a plurality of elongate hinges, each of which has a pair of circular apertures in which the circular ribs of the slats are disposed. When the Solomon shutter is unrolled to its protective position, each of the slats in the shutter is disposed vertically with the ends of the slats disposed within guide channels or side tracks on either side of the opening. When not in use, the Solomon shutter may be rolled up into a housing disposed at the upper end of the protective shutter.
Another type of rolling protective shutter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,322 to Miller. As shown, the shutter assembly includes a shutter support member mounted for rotation in a shutter housing. A rolling shutter composed of a plurality of individual slats is coupled to the shutter support member so that the shutter can be rolled up onto the shutter support member. A pair of shutter tracks extend downwardly from either end of the shutter housing. When the shutter is in its unrolled position, the ends of the slats are disposed within the tracks.
Roll-up partitions in general, and rolling protective shutters in particular, typically incorporate one or more torsion spring assemblies to assist in rolling and unrolling the shutters manually or by a powered opening device. In one arrangement, the assembly is a self-contained modular unit having a spring shaft surrounded by a coiled torsion spring. One end of the spring shaft includes a spring shaft support that is rotatable about the spring shaft, and a spring plate rigidly fixed to the spring shaft and to the proximate end of the torsion spring to prevent rotation of the end of the torsion spring relative to the spring shaft. The other end of the spring shaft includes a spring drive that is rotatable about the spring shaft and rigidly fixed to the other end of the torsion spring. The assembly is inserted into the shutter support member with one end of the spring shaft rigidly fixed to the shutter housing. The spring shaft support and spring drive engage the interior of and rotate with the shutter support member. When the shutter is unrolled, the torsion spring is wound tighter, thereby providing additional torque to assist in lifting and rolling the shutter onto the shutter support member. During normal operation of the rolling protective shutters, the torsion spring exerts a minimum torque when the shutter is in the rolled position and a maximum torque when the shutter is in the unrolled position.
The torsion spring therefore assists in lifting the shutter to an open position, whether motor driven or manually operated. In many municipalities, it is required that a person could easily pull a lever and have any type of security door or gate open ("pop up") for easy and fast egress in case of an emergency, such as, for example, a fire, inside the building on which the security door or gate is installed. This "pop up" operation must be done mechanically rather than by electrical power, in the event that electrical power is interrupted due to the fire or other emergency in the building.
Accordingly, it is necessary to have a system that enables a torsion spring to raise the door or gate by a manual operation. Typically, motor driven security doors or gates use a braking system of some type to maintain the position of the door or gate when the motor is stopped. This braking system must be disengaged when the door or gate needs to be raised.
A typical type of overhead door uses a large motor mounted outside of a housing that contains the door or gate when it is rolled up. The motor can be hidden in the ceiling of the building in which the door or gate is installed. Through the use of gears and/or chains, it has been fairly easy to provide a mechanism to disengage the braking system and permit the torsion spring to raise the shutter. However, this type of external motor system is extremely costly, very large, difficult to install, and can be unsightly if it cannot be hidden in a ceiling.
One primary alternative to such external motor systems is the use of tubular motors to raise and lower doors and gates. Tubular motors can be encased inside of a roller tube around which the door or gate is wound when the door or gate is opened. As the motor system is always hidden within the roller tube, it is never visible and thereby gives the door or gate a very clean look. The use of a tubular motor also makes installation of the door or gate much simpler.
Present designs for rolling doors or gates having tubular motors do not have satisfactory mechanisms for utilizing a torsion spring to raise the door in an emergency. Typically, a cable mechanism is used to manually release a brake inside the tubular motor. Such cable mechanisms do not work well in practice because the required travel of the cable is so small in order to effectively release the brake that the cable mechanisms either simply do not work or are extremely difficult to install properly. Accordingly, presently there are no known commercial manufacturers of tubular motors that offer a system for rolling up a door or gate in an emergency.
In other installations, it is desirable to disengage the tubular motor from the partition to allow the partition to be unrolled in an emergency. For example, fire doors are unrolled to cover an opening to prevent the spread of a fire. In the event the fire causes a power outage, it is necessary to disengage the tubular motor and manually unroll the shutter to cover the opening. Accordingly, its is desirable to provide a safety release mechanism that allows a partition to be either rolled up or unrolled in an emergency.
In view of the foregoing problems and disadvantages, there is a need for a system that can be used with a tubular motor that enables the use of a torsion spring to open or close a door or gate in case of an emergency.